Budget friendly ways to feed garden birds?

[Bottlesofrumonthewall]

I love watching and feeding the birds in my garden but the seed packets and mixes can get quite expensive. I am looking for cheap ways to feed birds in the UK.

I am open to trying simple safe ideas like leftovers, homemade mixes or anything that works for small garden birds like tits, sparrows and finches. I have tried buying the usual seed packets but they do not seem to last long and it adds up quickly.

If anyone has any tips or clever ideas to feed the birds without spending a lot I would be really grateful.

Thanks!

I buy all my bird food in Home Bargains as it's much cheaper than anywhere else here.

If you have a garden plants that produce seed and berries for birds are a good long term option. Pyracantha, Cotoneaster, Sunflowers, Verbena, Cornflower, Poppies are all easy to grow and make seed heads that birds visit in winter.
My long term aim is to have so much food growing in the garden that I can stop buying bird food altogether.

www.rhs.org.uk/wildlife/plants-for-birds

If you cook anything fatty save the fat and mix it with oats.

Order in bulk from an online supplier, it's so much cheaper than buying little bags of food from shops, eg I buy 25kg of sunflower hearts at a time.